A brief history of the past decade of this movement

The struggle for justice for missing and murdered Indigneous women is long and strong.

1991: The first women’s memorial march was held in response to the murder of a Coast Salish woman on Powell Street in Vancouver. Twenty-two years later, the women’s memorial march continues to honour the lives of all missing and murdered women.

October 2004: Sisters in Spirit creates a national database on missing and murdered Indigenous women. The primary goal was to conduct research and raise awareness of the alarmingly high rates of violence against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

October 4 2005: First annual Sisters In Spirit march and vigil, founded by Bridget Tolley on the anniversary of her mother’s death, who was killed by a Sureté du Québec squad car on Highway 105 on the Kitigan Zibi reserve.

June 2008: Walk4Justice’s first three-month walk to Ottawa. When they arrived at the Parliament in September, they presented documentation of over 3000 missing and murdered women and a petition signed by 2900 people calling for inquiries into these cases.

June 2008: Harper apologizes for residential schools and asks the forgiveness of Indigenous peoples, stating, “Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm and has no place in our country.”

Mar 2010: Funding of Sisters in Spirit, along with funding of Aboriginal Healing Foundation and many other Indigenous organizations, is cut by federal government.

2010: Families of Sisters in Spirit, a grassroots not-for-profit volunteer organization located on unceded Algonquin Territory led by families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls with support from Indigenous and non-Indigenous allies, is created.

December 2012: Idle No More sparks hundreds of teach-ins, rallies, and protests. INM calls for active resistance to violence against women and demands that a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women involving Indigenous women be held.

February 14 2013: Seven hundred people gather on Valentine’s Day for Montreal’s fourth (and largest) annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women.

July 2013: Stephen Harper refuses to conduct inquiry into cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, although calls for a national inquiry have been prominent for many years from local, national, and international bodies.